OPINION:
The protests against President Trump will backfire on liberals. The only message they have sent to the general public is that the protesters are angry at the president and willing to commit violent acts.
A protester quoted by Fox News Digital on Saturday said, “I mean, I personally won’t do that, but I can understand after all of this, like, people are fed up. People are fed up with how the government has been treating people. The Republicans, the people in Congress, they do not care about people here, and so I can understand why people are that angry to do something like that, so, yeah, I fully understand.”
So many of these radicals live in a bubble. They think everyone is just as upset with Mr. Trump as they are because everyone they know is. It is entirely foreign to them that a large number of Americans like the president’s policies, even if they don’t like some of the ways he communicates with the public. Rage without a clear message is worse than pointless; it is actually counterproductive.
Why do liberals engage in these protests that often escalate to violence? History shows us that intimidation often works. There are plenty of examples where federal, state and certainly local officials have backed down after fiery protests. Most politicians don’t like bad press and don’t have the courage or patience to wait it out. Those that do generally prevail.
Less than two months into my first term as governor of Wisconsin, we pushed one of the most significant state reforms in American history. Big government special interests went wild. Eventually, they helped organize some 100,000 protesters who occupied my state Capitol for nearly a month in violation of the law.
Protesters took over the Capitol and the square, showed up at public events and blocked the road in front of my home. Some even threatened me and my family. They took similar action against Republican state lawmakers. Their goal was intimidation. It nearly worked.
Although the Wisconsin State Assembly was filled with 25 new Republicans in the majority who were ready to take on big, bold reforms, the other chamber was filled with many state senators who had been in office a long time and were clearly risk-averse to the battle we faced.
Plus, the media were sympathetic to the plight of the protesters. They repeated the myth that our reforms would hurt schools. Some even bought into the outright lie that my children were in private schools because I hated public education. The facts clearly show that, although I am a big supporter of choice in education, both of my sons were attending Wauwatosa East High School at the time. I wanted every child to have access to an excellent education, and I wanted to give school boards the tools to improve their schools.
Taking a page out of the playbook of President Reagan, who used the bully pulpit to stir up public opinion in favor of his ideas when he had a split Congress, I went on the road to sell our reforms. We started to see progress in making our case to the people of Wisconsin. Along the way, the left’s overreach also helped us.
The turning point was when I spoke to athletes as part of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for the Special Olympics. I had participated in the run for about 20 years and wasn’t going to let the protesters stop me that year.
For some odd reason, the protesters that day were dressed as zombies. They came out and got between me and the Special Olympics athletes. My first instinct was to tell them to go to hell. Instead, I focused on talking to the athletes, as it was their event.
Thankfully, the story was that the protesters interrupted an event for the Special Olympics. Everyday people in Wisconsin looked at that and said, “These people are not from our state. That’s not how we act here.” That moment changed the focus of the debate over our reforms.
I reminded citizens that I loved educators like those who taught my children but didn’t like the teachers union bosses. Our reforms would eliminate tenure and seniority so schools could staff based on merit and pay based on performance. Most people liked these ideas.
The protest organizers had gone too far. In turn, they made it possible for me to convince our citizens that their real motives were power and money, not the best interest of our students and communities. In the end, our reforms passed and I won the recall election with more votes than the first time.
My message is simple: Don’t be intimidated by the radical protesters, and don’t take their bait. Stay focused on why conservative policies help hardworking taxpayers and their families. If we do, all of us will win.
• Scott Walker is a columnist for The Washington Times. He was the 45th governor of Wisconsin and launched a bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. He lives in Milwaukee and is the proud owner of a 2003 Harley-Davidson Road King. He can be reached at swalker@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.